How to open a form within a form?

Question

I have a Parent form and i like to open a child form within the the parent form.

Can this be done? If yes please reply me with sample code .

Thanks !

Answer 1

Following is the code to do what you want:

Assume that button1 is in the parent form.

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            this.IsMdiContainer = true;
            Form Form2 = new Form();
            Form2.MdiParent = this;
            Form2.Show();
        }

Also the following link will provide you more better details of what you want to do:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/mdiformstutorial.aspx

Hope this helps...

Answer 2

I note that all the answers here assume the OP intended to use MDI Form architecture, although that's never explicitly stated.

And there is another way a Form can be made a 'Child' of another Form: by simply setting its 'TopLevel property to 'False, and then setting its 'Parent property to the other Form.

Form2 f2 = new Form2();
f2.TopLevel = false;
f2.Parent = someOtherForm;
f2.Show();

By the way I think the whole idea of 'Forms within Forms' is a BAD idea, and MDI Architecture is now, justifiably, deprecated by MS.

Much better, I believe, to make secondary Forms 'Owned, and if you must have other Containers inside a Form, use UserControls, Panels, etc.

Answer 3

It depends on what you mean by "within the form". If you need to have the child form shown as a control of the parent form I guess you could try ParentForm.Controls.Add(new ChildForm()). Or maybe even place the child form in an existing container in the parent form by again using the containing control's Controls collection.

HTH